During the approach of an aircraft to the runway for landing, it is desirable that the flight crew maintain the aircraft at the appropriate angle with respect to their intended point of touchdown on the runway. This line of approach, often referred to as the glide slope or glide path, should be maintained substantially constant within relatively narrow limits and the line should be measured with respect to the same given point of expected touchdown. Any material variance from this line of approach may cause the aircraft to strike an obstruction such as a tree or power line, or may cause touchdown of the aircraft onto the runway at a point either short of the end of the runway or dangerously far down the runway toward the opposite end thereof as a result of an improperly chosen touchdown point. In instrument approach operations, the glide path angles are maintained by instrument guidance such as ground based glide slope signals. In visual approach operations, however, flight crews can use outside visual objects as reference to maintain the proper glide path.
Visual illusions take place when environmental and runway conditions modify a flight crew's perception of the environment and runway relative to the flight crew's expectations in visual operations. Visual illusions affect the flight crew's vertical and horizontal situational awareness, particularly during visual approach to the runway when flying the “base leg” (perpendicular to the runway orientation), when turning from the base leg to the “final approach” (aligned with the runway orientation), and during the final approach. Visual illusions may induce flight crew inputs that cause the aircraft to deviate from the original and intended vertical or lateral flight path, and this may result in a landing short of the runway, a hard landing, or a runway overrun.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods that provide runway illusion alleviation. Moreover, it would be desirable to provide such system and methods in the context of a flight display easily that is accessible by the flight during the runway approach phase of flight. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the exemplary embodiments will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.